Star Wars : The Old Republic : Gunslinger Abilities

As promised, below you will find the Gunslinger exclusive abilities. Surely a lot of you are still trying to decide what class to play on launch, so hopefully these are helpful to some of you.

Enjoy the cake !

 

 

You can also find the Smuggler abilities here : http://www.betacake.net/2011/10/24/star-wars-the-old-republic-smuggler-abilities/

The Scoundrel abilities are here : http://www.betacake.net/2011/10/12/star-wars-the-old-republic-scoundrel-abilities/

 

 

 

Gunslinger Abilities

 

 

 



Rumors have it that Cpt. BetaCake was once a mere mortal. In human years he would be 28 years old. Nowadays, he finds peace in sharing gaming news and leaks.

  • GuessWho

    Finally! Been waiting for this stuff!

  • Voltan

    As sson as I see the word “cover” I know to avoid the class. The cover mechanic is one of the things I find least appealing about TOR

    • MrGrimord

      It’s the opposite for me, can’t wait to try this out. The most skilled players in the game will be the ones who use the cover system wisely and effectively in both PvE and PvP.

    • Bobbee

      I have to agree with you. I’m sure in PvE the cover mechanic would be fine, but I see many issues with it in PvP. How are you going to deal with people coming up behind you? How are you going to deal with people when you’re out in the open? If you drop that auto shield out in the open, what’s to prevent people from just stepping around it and attacking you? Once people get behind you, then you have to get out of that cover and find another cover, all the while you’re taking shots. Poof, you’re dead. Many questions.

      • Abs

        Forcing a class to stand still(or crouch still) to be able to unload all of it’s top firepower is a recipe for death in PvP. You need to be mobile in PvP. Sounds like all you have to do is flank a gunslinger’s cover.

        • Iloveulongtime

          Well, the point is that Sith Warriors and Jedi Knights can’t charge you while you’re in cover.

          Imagine if a Frostmage could press 1 button make it impossible for warriors to Charge on them. That’s a “bad” ability?

          • Mr PvP

            I wonder if they can charge you from the side or back though.

          • blahblahbeta

            Pretty sure they can’t.

          • dontbanmebro

            they cannot

          • StephenReed

            So a Sith warrior can’t charge you if they come up behind you? They can only charge face to face? This doesn’t seem right.

          • Brad77450

            I think they can charge from any direction in most cases…
            They just can’t charge a Smuggler/IA who’s behind cover. Small defensive buff for cover in PvP

        • Anonymous

          How unbalancing would it be to remove the cover requirement against PvP targets?

        • Anonymous

          Here’s a quote from Zoeller on Sniper/Gunslinger:

          “The Sniper is a tricky one. You really need to understand the strength and weaknesses of the class and your spec to play it effectively.

          For example, if you’re ever leading an assault on a turret in Alderaan, you’re just doing it wrong. It’s a thinking man’s class and requires a lot more attention to terrain and more spatial awareness than most other classes.

          Our data and testing indicates that a well played sniper currently sits on top of the single target burst damage charts of the game, especially since the changes made to cover. The problem is, we also know that there’s quite a few people that are not performing as well with the class and understanding what exactly these people are doing differently that is giving them such a hard time.”
          ——————-

          You can’t think about TOR in terms of 1v1s at all. The game is designed completely around team play and objectives. If you’re hoping to have a lot of fun in TOR in 1v1 PvP, you’re probably going to end up very disappointed.

          • Carmen

            That’s all fine and dandy, but we all know that many times in PvP zones you find yourself 1v1 all the time, you’re not going to be running around with a Jedi Knight in your hip pocket. And frankly unless you’re in a group with guildmates or friends, most people don’t play as a team, they’re just going for kills.

          • Anonymous

            If you find yourself 1v1 as a Sniper/Gunslinger, you probably screwed up. You should be sniping people from 25 meters away while they’re distracted by your teammates, and if they do run towards you, you mow them down before they get there. That’s how you go for kills, and, as Zoeller said, the class is more than capable of topping kills and damage charts in warzones.

          • Anonymous

            I do not think Zoller is saying that the Build can only function in a group, but rather that it takes a different approach to play the build solo.

            If a build is viable alone, it becomes stronger in a group — so it would not make sense for a build to be weak without a group, because it would still be weaker than the other builds when both are in a group.

          • SeanDavis

            So people are having an issue playing the Smuggler in Beta PvP. Being a Smuggler was something I was interested in, but after hearing all of this, I doubt I’ll risk rolling one now.

          • Anonymous

            People are having issues figuring out Sniper/Gunslinger, but there weren’t many complaints about Operative/Scoundrel last build. They play much differently.

          • Anonymous

            If I am understanding BW Zoller’s comments, it sounds as if the problems stem more from the difficulty of playing the class correctly, rather than the class itself being broken.

            That point actually makes the builds attractive, as it presents the challenge to learn how to play differently than one might expect.

            Can anyone confirm what Zoller is saying — that the Sniper/Gunslinger are strong classes in the proper hands?

          • Gwz

            Its the least played class in beta, but GZ is right. It takes longer to master, and can feel a bit clunky, but in the right hands these classes are absolutely amazing. They may not be the best 1v1 class, but you will have tools at your disposal to make sure you never NEED to 1v1.

            If you are interested in the cover classes, I would say it takes a good while to master and get used to, also they really don’t come into there own till lvl 30s, but they have huge potential. The only thing I will say is the specific playstyle is very unappealing to the masses.

          • Shadow

            From my limited beta experience as Shadow in Warzones, Smuggler’s mirror IA was the most dangerous foe in a 1v1, that included Snipers. Their CC > Shadow CC, at least an low levels, and they deal massive single-target damage. Now, this can be explained to some extent by the fact it’s a thinking man’s class, which tends to attract skilled players, but also proves that in skilled hands they can be a formiddable opponent. The worst performing classes in 1v1s seemed to be Sorcerers and Mercenaries, but this again could be explained by their appeal to noobity noobs. :)

          • Anonymous

            It is good to hear that the class can be effective, once you learn how to use it properly.

            I am hoping BW doesn’t dumb it down, in an attempt to make it more attractive.

            Imo, it is more attractive to see the Sniper/Gunslinger’s potential displayed when in the proper hands — inspiring players to learn how to play them properly — instead of just making them easier to play.

  • Takionbrst

    Sup power word barrier. Yeah, this kind of confirms what I’d suspected– gunslinger gets damn near no control (aside from base smuggler abilities). Sit at range and spam your nukes, and based on beta feedback you’ve got some of the best burst in the game. Sounds a lot like trinket+fire mage in vanilla– not too interested, scoundrel (or will it be vanguard? oh lord decisions) for me kkthxbye.

    • Haunchofmeat

      The only other “control” that the Scoundrel gets is the Tranquilizing Shot, an out-of-combat CC, but the Gunslinger gets a knockback. Yes, that knockback is only in cover, but taking cover doesn’t trigger the GCD, and it also ROOTS enemies.
      Plus, they can go immune to CC for 33% of the time. I am seriously tempted to switch to a Gunslinger based on the ability to Hunker Down and blast some Sorcerer’s face off.

      I know that a Sniper/Slinger in cover is nothing as squishy as a vanilla WoW mage, and in my limited beta experience, being caught out in the open by one is pretty terrifying.

  • Anonymous

    Are these going to change, based upon the changes that may occur do to the low popularity of the the cover classes? Or are any changes still going to hang onto these abilities?

    Just curious if BW has tipped their hat on what directions they might take to improve the attractiveness of IA and Smuggy.

    • Anonymous

      And a question to those that have tested the Smuggler. What do you feel the class is ‘missing’ or ‘handicapped by’?

      • Haunchofmeat

        While I only have 7-8 hours experience as a Smuggler(Scoundrel) in PvP, I really wanted some sort of gap closer.
        Sure, I could take a talent in Sawbones that gave a 20-30% speed increase for 3 seconds that was tied to my “Evasion”, but aside from sneaking up on someone and keeping a snare on them, they could just run the hell away from me and one they were out of 15 yards, they could pretty much go where ever they wanted.

    • StephenReed

      I agree, I would like to see BW do something to improve the attractiveness of the cover classes. Obviously, as the lowest future played class according to several polls, they need to do something to make more people play them.

      • Anonymous

        Has BW made mention of what those steps might be?

  • Iloveulongtime

    The Frostmage of TOR.

    • Ass

      I played frostmage in WoW and gunslinger up to 42 in beta – and I have to agree with this.

      Sadly GS is missing some control compared to frost-mages, and is under-performing in 1v1′s due to this. When you are with your team the class is great, and hunker-down is probably the only real benefit of cover. (20 seconds CC immunity, 1min CD)

      You basically trade mobility for true free-casting CC immunity. Very easily trolled by LOS though. One of the worst 1v1 classes, but one of the best group/warzone classes.

  • Shadowcat

    Thanks, BetaCake. :-)

  • Tornado_trick

    Uhh, correct me if I’m wrong, but on the Gunslinger issue- do people expect to have insane ranged dmg, with 100% uptime, constant control, and tankiness? I’m not too familiar with the gunslinger trees, but I would say one tree then should focus more on control and “tricks” at the expense of damage- I had thought this was the case, but I could be wrong.

    • Anonymous

      I do not think people were expecting insane damage + constant CC + Tankiness, but rather than the GS build is lacking enough of any one of those, to make up for how squishy if is — just my guess based upon the little bit of readying.

      Basically, it sounds as if the build is not very viable if you cannot use cover — ie standing still to use ‘cover’, is still too vulnerable a position.

      Just my guess.

  • daa

    the Scoundrel AC is recognized as the far superior pvp choice, and way more feared in pvp.

  • Rex

    Somebody asked about Smuggler PvP. I can only give you a Scrapper Scoundrel (melee spec)perspective

    There are 2 big problems with it. First Scoundrel’s have no reliable in combat speed boost/gap closer which makes sticking on a target very difficult. Make no mistake, Scrapper is a melee spec which does most of its damage in melee range and has Quick Shot at 15m. The one or two long range shots from the base Scoundrel class aren’t even worth the energy. Also the only snare is on a 12s cooldown.

    The biggest problem for PvP is that Scoundrels are the only AC without any kind of knockback ability. This makes Hutball and to a lesser extent Voidstar a huge pain in the ass.

    Compared to the Scoundrel, the Jedi Shadow has a speed boost, reusable snare, an aoe knockback, and a pulling move similar to Deathgrip to help them stay on targets and knock players around. Scoundrels only get a 6 second aoe mez for their PvP utility which is actually really good, but it has a 1 minute cooldown. Right now the Scoundrel class desperately needs a knockback ability and Scrapper in particular needs some kind of gap closer. Otherwise the class does great burst damage out of stealth but it falls behind in the open because it’s hard to stay on a target. You can also pop off a situational heal once in a while but it burns through your energy very quickly without being healing specced.

    • daa

      That being said, Scoundrel is still one of the top and most feared classes in PVP at higher lvls.

      There is this one talent that adds a knockdown to your stealth opener, and results in some very easy-mode kills.

      It is probably the top 1v1 class next to Shadow. But yes it needs more viability in Huttball where knockbacks reign supreme.

  • Anonymous

    Any chance of enticing a tester that understands how to play Gunslinger or Sniper well, making a video for BC?

    Also, has any tester seen effective use of ‘escapes’ (pistol Whip, Groin Kick, Pulse wave, etc) by GS or Snips to escape from melee that has closed onto them? Do you feel they are effective and balanced, or is the Smug/IA basically done once melee gets to them?

    Thanks in advance for both.